Zero Deference
by Gundam Kaiser
Summary: In this world, is the destiny of mankind controlled by some... transcendental entity, or law? Is it like the hand of God, hovering above us? At least it is true, that Louise has no control... even over her own Familiar.


_The man whom he'd seen like a father, had taught him nothing. Nothing... except how to swing a sword. To fight, and to kill, was all he knew._

_He found more comfort in fighting to keep his life, than he did in living it out._

_He had left his comrades-in-arms. Not because he had disagreed with them, certainly. Far from it, they were his comrades... friends, even... and he was grateful for the time he had spent among them, and he was proud to have been one of their number._

_But he had grown restless and discontent, because they had changed him._

_He had always been a man without a dream, but until his time with the Hawks, it had never been a concern._

_Surrounded by comrades, each one fighting for a dream, he had seen in them all a drive... a passion... that he himself did not have._

_So, when the Hundred-Year War was over, and the Hawks had been victorious... when their dreams had come almost to fruition... he left them, without looking back._

_A man ill at ease, who knew only how to fight. His place was no longer at their side. Until he found a goal of his own, he could not be their equal._

_Could not be... the equal of that man._

_Yes, to be that man's equal. That was the dream, of the man called Guts._

* * *

**Chapter One**

As the dust cleared from the massive explosion that had just taken place, some snotty, whiny-sounding kid asked, "Louise, just what were you _thinking_, hiring some common _mercenary_ to masquerade as your Familiar?!"

The student had been addressing one Louise Francois le Blanc de la Vallierre, a pink-haired young lady of diminuitive size and fiery temper, nicknamed as 'The Zero' for her zero percent success rate in using magic.

Someone with a differing viewpoint might instead have opted to nickname Louise for her one-hundred percent success rate in blowing stuff up, but it's hard to come up with something catchy that reflects that. And apparently not one member of the faculty, menial staff, or student body at the Tristain Academy of Magic understood how inherently _awesome_ explosions were to begin with, which goes a long way toward explaining the type of prevalent - and, above all else, _laaaame_ - cultural mindset in the system.

Rambling narration aside, Louise heatedly replied, "How _dare_ you accuse me of such a thing? I... I simply made a slight miscalculation in the spell, that's all!"

Another student rolled their eyes in exasperation, before dryly saying, "Yes, you miscalculated that you could even _cast_ 'Summon Familiar' at all!"

Yet a third student quipped, "Just another typical day for Louise the Zero, astounding us all with one magnificent failure after another!"

As the crowd of students - who, let's face it, were kind of being assholes - burst into laughter at her expense, Louise could do nothing but seethe in anger.

Her summoned Familiar, meanwhile, wasn't having the best of days either.

* * *

Guts cast his gaze about the courtyard, quickly taking stock of the situation.

He was surrounded on all sides by various kinds of monsters, as if he were in some kind of children's bedtime story. Most of the monsters had children or teenagers by their sides. Had the monsters been trained by these people?

Guts was neither gullible nor prone to believing in the supernatural, but unless he was having some kind of wierd-as-hell dream, it seemed impossible to draw any conclusion except that these... wizards, or whatever, had kidnapped him for some kind of ritual.

The swordsman _also_ had the distinct impression that the pink-headed girl arguing with the others had blown him up, or had at least tried to.

Guts wasn't exactly a tactical mastermind, but it didn't _take _one in order to see that the Hundred-Man Slayer was in quite the sorry situation.

Prioritizing survival over explanations, Guts waited until the pint-sized pinkette seemed to have everyone's attention, before spotting the most likely exit and making a beeline for it, drawing as little attention to himself as possible.

"To hell with this," he muttered. "I'm out of here."

* * *

"But Mr. Colbert, can't I be permitted another attempt? A _commoner_, for Brimir's sake!"

Colbert, a man well into the process of going bald, shook his head. "Miss Valliere, I can't allow that. The summoning of a Familiar is a sacred rite, and it determines your elemental affinity. Further, the springtime familiar summoning ritual is one of society's most important traditions, reverently upheld since the time of the Founder himself. As long as that mercenary was summoned by you, there is no choice but for you to accept him as -"

"Leaving."

Surprised at being interrupted, Colbert turned to admonish Tabitha before realizing that the Familiar of Zero was indeed in the process of making good his escape.

Louise, upon catching sight of the retreating swordsman, went red with indignation. "Get _back_ here, dog! I summoned you, so return and obey me!"

The swordsman's only response, upon realizing that his actions had been noticed, was to immediately break into a sprint straight for the exit. Clearly, he either didn't comprehend his master's order, or he simply didn't give a damn. The truth, had Louise and or Colbert been privy to it, would've been quite a fair measure of both.

However, Louise had no reason offhand to suspect that the errant familiar couldn't understand her, and instead believed that it was being disobedient purely in spite.

Well, a Familiar exists to serve its master like a dog, right? And when a dog misbehaves, one should discipline it, in order to teach it right from wrong, correct? Louise believed herself a good mistress, and thus she resolved to discipline the familiar that _dared_ run away from her.

With a graceful cast of her wand, Louise cast a paralysis spell at her Familiar with the intention of stopping him.

True to form, however, she instead hit him with a powerful explosion that ended up blasting him out of the courtyard entirely.

After a few moments of silence, a nondescript student said, "Amazing. Simply amazing. Truly, the the Zero's ineptitude is _boundless_."

Louise wanted nothing more, right then, to wake up and learn that the day's events had been nothing more than a dream. Only her stubborn pride as a Valliere kept her from breaking down and crying right there.

_How... why... why did everything have to be so wrong?_

As she stood there, shellshocked, the other students and familiars began leaving to do their own thing, most likely getting more acquainted with their familiars. Louise began to go to the privacy of her room so she could cry, but found Colbert standing in her path.

"Mr. Colbert...?"

"If you're going to your room that's fine, Louise, but I should make it clear that until you complete the ritual and bind your familiar, you won't be permitted to attend classes."

"B-but-"

With an exasperated sigh, Colbert shook his head. "Weren't you listening when I lectured you about how important the Springtime Familiar Summoning ritual is? And that it, by tradition, carries more gravitas than _any other Academy rule_? That includes attendance of classes, though once you finish the ritual you obviously will have to make up any work that you missed."

Then as Colbert popped his neck, he offered, "If you like, however, I can lend a hand in tracking down your wayward familiar."

Self-pity giving way to suspicion, Louise crossed her arms in a needlessly self-defensive manner and asked, "Why? Don't you still have to _teach_ classes?"

Colbert shrugged. "Honestly? I'm curious about your familiar, since a human has never been summoned before in recorded history. As for classes, I can delegate to one of the junior teachers."

Louise considered it for a moment. Countless emotions were roiling about inside her, and she finally settled on one of them for the moment: cold, baleful fury. She had been mocked and humiliated more thoroughly today than ever in her life, and it was all because of that damn familiar. The familiar that dared to be a common mercenary instead of something impressive like a dragon, or manticore, or gryphon, or a god or something. The familiar that had dared to _run away_ instead of obeying her like a proper servant.

"Very well, Mr. Colbert, I accept your gracious offer of assistance."

Without thinking to pack anything, Louise then turned to leave the Academy in pursuit of her familiar. Her cape dramatically swishing in the wind that had suddenly picked up, she declared, "As a noble of the Valliere family, I will _not _allow this indignity to go unpunished!"

* * *

**Reviews keep the world a-spinnin', folks.**

**There are two kinds of readers in the ffnet world, and I shall address them both.**

**To the kind of reader who cares to see Guts unintentionally stir up more chaos in Tristain and generally take his BFS to canon with a vengeance, please review.**

**To the kind of reader who **_**doesn't **_**care for eventual updates because this doesn't seem to be a fic that suits your interests... I respect your decision and your taste, and I send you off on your way with best wishes, but please go ahead and review anyway, as a favor to the other guys.**


End file.
